Unbelievable Mariners

[Gerode]

Yeah, the A's would be the last team I'd want to see in the playoffs. They've been on a tear for the past few months, and they have done quite decent against the Mariners this season (I think they have equal wins against each other). Their rotation has been flaunted in the media, although I believe our rotation deserves equal respect.

The Indians would be easier for the Mariners on the surface, until you've heard of some of the games. The "14-2" rally cry worries me, and I wanna know what happens next time Rhodes comes in with those SHINY earrings. The Indians and Mariners have quite a history.

Special thanks to the people who scheduled today's game, I would like to express my appreciation of being unable to see the game while at school (although it wasn't the greatest of games...)

 

[Apollo]

INDIANS WIN! INDIANS WIN!

The Indians took the first game of the series today, 5-0, behind a great performance from Barolo Colon who went 8 shutout innings and struck out 10. Chuck Finley faces Jamie Moyer on thursday, and CC Sabathia goes against Aaron Sele on friday. Should be exciting.

Go Tribe!

 

[Mikeymike]

The Seattle rotation definitely deserves credit, they've had a great season. But media hype or not, the A's front 3 is astounding. Zito is there number 3 pitcher, and he has the nastiest stuff this side of Pedro. I'm dying for him to go into free agency so the Mets can get their grubby paws on him .

Man, Bartolo Colon was hitting 99 in the 7th. Thats freaking inhuman, especially for someone who looks like he's maybe 5-10, 5-11. That is definitely going to be an interesting series.

This is why I love baseball.

 

[Apollo]

One thing about Colon, he always gets better as the game goes on. He'll start at 96-97, and be at 99-100 in the 8th. As you saw yesterday, he had some trouble in the first few innings, but once he got past that, Seattle just didn't have a chance against him.

Finley, on the other hand, will start good but by the fifth he's visibly losing it, and will rarely if ever pitch into the 7th. They're gonna need a big performance from him.

 

[Gerode]

I remember Colon hitting 99 and 98 mph in the ninth inning of a somewhat high-scoring game. He's a monster.

How has Finley done this year? Because outside of him and Colon, they don't have much a starting rotation.

 

[Apollo]

Finley was awful this year, up until September. He was hurt most of the year, and finally came back and was bad in his first few starts... but then in his last 6 or so in September he had an ERA around 2.00. So if he pitches that way, the Tribe is in good shape, but if he pitches like he did most of the year, we're in trouble.

But as for the Tribe not having a rotation outside of Finley and Colon, have you not heard of CC Sabathia? The 17-game winner, as a rookie, carried the staff all year. He's the ace of the staff. Colon has the potential to be do what he did yesterday every time out, but CC has consistently performed all year. If it weren't for a few bad starts at the beginning of the year (he came straight from AA ball), he would have had an ERA around 3.50 and even more wins. He really should've easily been the ROY, but some guy named Ichiro showed up. And in August and September, he was at his best. I really like that matchup in game 3. In fact, going into the series, that was the only matchup I was really comfortable with.

Go Tribe!

 

[Gerode]

MARINERS WIN MARINERS WIN

The name was familiar, but I didn't know if he was very good.

 

[Ransac]

HA-ha! Take THAT, you cleveland demon!!!!!!!


Series tied at 1-1.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Apollo]

Merf!

Well, we lost that one. It was ugly. Finley waits 15 years to get back to the postseason, and he starts it like that?

Well, I like CC in game 3, but we better win the next two cause if Finley has to go again in game 5, we're in deep shi(tocki mushrooms).

 

[Apollo]

WOOO-HOOOO! Now that, my friend, was CC Sabathia. And that was the Indians offense. And that was a total annihlation. One more to go! With Bartolo going tomorrow, I like our chances.

It's a big one tomorrow, but right now I'm still on a high from today. WHEEEEE!

 

[Apollo]

Whelp, that high went straight down the toilet. We were doing so good for 6 innings, and then suddenly the ump's strike zone got to about the size of a quarter, the Mariners had a couple of lucky rollers through the infield, and the game was shot all to hooey.

Now we've got Finley going again vs. Moyer, and it doesn't look good. Unless the Indians can somehow figure out how to hit Moyer's slowball, it's going to be another typical season here in Cleveland.

In fact, I'm beginning to think that the Cleveland mojo will surely kill the Indians altogether. The Fumble, the Drive, the Shot, Brian Sipe's interception, the Move, Mesa blowing it in the ninth inning of game 7 of the series, Robbie Alomar of the Orioles knocking out the Indians in the 10th inning in '96, Tom Glavine's 1-hitter to kill the Indians in '95, the total collapse against the BoSox in '99... it's all happening again. Cleveland will always lose in spectacular fashion. What is the only way to combat this? We must associate Jamie Moyer with Cleveland, of course!

Jamie Moyer... Cleveland... Jamie Moyer... Cleveland... Jamie Moyer... Cleveland... JamieMoyer... Cleveland... JamieMoyer... Cleveland... JamieMoyer...Cleveland... JamieMoyer...Cleveland... JamieMoyer...Cleveland... JamieMoyer..Cleveland... JamieMoyer..Cleveland... JamieMoyer..Cleveland... JamieMoyer.Clevleland... JamieMoyer.Cleveland... Jamie Moyer.Cleveland... JamieMoyer.Cleveland... JamieMoyer.Cleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerCleveland... JamieMoyerClevelandJamieMoyerClevelandJamieMoyerCleveland

*Apollo slaughters a goat to seal the transfer*

 

[Gerode]

You're not the only team to have problems with Mesa...

At first I thought the Mariners had ran out of the Mojo they had all season, and would be promptly defeated in 2000 White Sox fashion. But that win restored my confidence...

m0y3r 0wnz j00!!!!!1

 

[Apollo]

AAAGGGGHHH! It's the 7th inning right now, and I'm ready to throttle that idiot umpire. I don't know what the (hooey) he's doing back there, but he has had more blown calls in this game than I've seen before in ages. Chuck Finley was squeezed so bad all game that his eyes were starting to bulge. Especially in that second inning, when he struck out the first two batters. Unfortunately, the umpire couldn't realize that, and both walked and scored. The same thing happened last game, when Bartolo Colon had John Olerud struck out twice in the M's big inning and got neither call. Take that walk out, and they don't score. At the time, I was willing to chalk it up to momentary idiocy, but now Im just getting pissed off.

Meanwhile, Jamie Moyer got every call imaginable. That inning where he struck out the middle of the Indians order, all on called strikes? Only one of them was a strike. That pitch to Juan Gonzalez hit the friggin' plate! Even Jim Thome, who literally never argues with the umpire said it's horrible. And the idiot TV announcers are so biased towards the Mariners I had to turn the sound off. I realize that they will get much better ratings if the Mariners move on; after all, they're popular and a good team. But you have to pretend to be unbiased! All they could do was praise Moyer when he struck out the side, but every time the Indians get a single called strike they talk about how the pitch was framed by Diaz. Fortunately, it seems that on the radio they require you to take your head out of your oink before you can go on the air, because they are practically as pissed as me right now about the umps.

Whelp, they just gave Ichiro first base on a ground ball where he was clearly out, even to my naked eye but especially on the replay. Even as I was writing this. And here he comes in to score. I'm surprised the ump didn't give him a high-five as he crossed the plate.

Aside to Gerode: Yeah, but we had Mesa in with the lead in the 9th inning of game 7 of the World Series, and he blew it.

 

[Ransac]

MARINERS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!! CLEVELAND SUCKS!!!!!!! DOWN WITH THE INDIANS!!!!!!!!



Seriously though, that was a great series. I preferred this ending, but the Indians put up one hell of a fight. I applaud their efforts.



Now, on to the yankees........



Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Gerode]

Excellent!

I haven't seen most of the games (I LOVE having the games on at 1pm during school!! ), but what from I have seen the umping leaves much to be desired.

I know the Mesa story.

 

[Mikeymike]

Congrats to both the Mariners and the Indians. It was a great series.

Apollo, I feel for you. I only saw the last 2 innings of the so I can't verify the calls, but I wouldn't be surprised if the ump wasn't consistent. It happens all to often and it shows especially in the playoffs. I don't know if you remember the Atlanta series with Pittsburgh (? I think?) in 93 when Sid Bream crossed the plate to win the game. I've yet to see a replay where he looked safe at home.

I'm in the NYC circle, so I'm absolutely surrounded by Yankees fans. Its time for them to pass the torch. Hopefully if they lose that will put all of the fairweather fans (aka the people who only seem to wear their Yankees gear during October) back in there place. Go A's.

 

[Apollo]

Heck, I was 8 in '93, I can't remember a thing.

But the A's sure as (hooey) better beat the Yanks, or I'm just going to turn of the TV for the next couple years.